The invention relates to improvements in apparatus for transporting rod-shaped articles, and more particularly to improvements in apparatus which can be utilized with advantage to transport rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry between one or more first stations (each of which can accommodate a maker of rod-shaped articles) and one or more processing machines for rod-shaped articles. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus for transporting a mass flow of rod-shaped articles (particularly plain or filter cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos or cheroots and/or filter rod sections) between at least one maker and at least one processing machine in such a way that the articles are advanced sideways, i.e., at least substantially at right angles to their longitudinal axes.
It is known to advance a mass flow of rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry (hereinafter called cigarettes or filter cigarettes for short) along a first path which extends from one or more makers and into one or more second paths which branch off the first path and serve for advancement of cigarettes to one or more processing machines, e.g., from one or more filter tipping machines which turn out filter cigarettes to one or more packing machines for arrays or groups of filter cigarettes. Each second path defines with the adjacent portion of the first path a substantially T-shaped junction which permits a certain number of arriving cigarettes to advance beyond the inlet of the respective second path and causes or permits the other articles to enter the inlet of the respective second path. Each second path can serve for the transport of a mass flow of cigarettes to a tray filling machine (e.g., a machine known as HCF 80 and distributed by the assignee of the present application), to a packing machine (e.g., a machine known as COMPAS 500 and distributed by the assignee of the present application) or another processing machine.
Problems arise when one or more processing machines are brought to a halt or are caused to process the arriving cigarettes at a rate less than an optimum rate. It is then necessary to reduce the rate of or to interrupt the advancement of cigarettes from the first path into the respective second path. The need to reduce the rate of or to interrupt the advancement of cigarettes into a processing machine can arise for a number of reasons, for example, due to malfunctioning of the processing machine, due to defects of cigarettes in the first path and/or for many other reasons. Heretofore known systems for reducing or interrupting the rate of advancement of a mass flow of cigarettes from a first path into one or more second paths are not entirely satisfactory because they are likely to affect the quality (e.g., the shape and/or the appearance) of the articles which happen to be located at a junction between the first path and a second path. Certain articles are likely to stagnate at a blocked junction and thus undergo damage as a result of contact with articles which advance beyond the blocked junction. In addition, the articles which continue to advance beyond the blocked junction are likely to be damaged by the articles which gather at such junction as a result of interruption of the advancement of articles from one or more sources to the respective processing machine or machines.